Remnants of Leaf
by Sasha L'Orange
Summary: When the Kazekage's seemingly irrational fear is confirmed, Sakura is brought as a refugee to Suna. When her life is radically changed and her heart is overwhelmed with loss, Sakura fights for her reasons to live. But how far will they fight for her?
1. Chapter 1

** Chapter 1: ****Unsettled**

The Kazekage paced in his office, sand from his gourd swirling restlessly at his feet. His arms were crossed firmly over his chest, locked in place. He knew something was wrong with him.

Sabaku no Gaara didn't pace.

This self-knowledge did nothing to sooth his mood, however. For the first time since the removal of Shukaku, he felt… strangely unsettled.

_Disturbed_ seemed to be the more appropriate term, Gaara decided.

He was tense, or at least, far more so than usual. He could feel his fingernails digging into the skin of his arms even through his robes, and the slight pain that had manifested above his left eye at the start of the week had evolved to a full-fledged throbbing ache. He rubbed the kanji on his forehead absently.

A week. A week since this restlessness had started. A week since he had woken up with a jolt, a cold sweat on his skin and an image of the Kyuubi destroying Konohagakure burned into his eyes. In his dream, the streets had run with blood.

The Kazekage had not slept since.

Gaara had tried to dismiss this dream as the product of his rather unorthodox experiences as an ex-Jinchuuriki. Or perhaps he had some latent violent tendencies he had yet to address. This roused a question in the Kazekage's mind. _Why would the _Kyuubi_ attack _Konoha_ in a dream about _my _unstable past?_ With a shake of his head, Gaara had eventually decided to push the nightmare out of his head and ignore it for what it was: a stupid dream. That was, at least, until three days later.

_A soft knock at the door echoed through the well-lit office. "Kazekage-sama?" a voice sounded from the hall. _

_Sending a hand of sand to open the door, Gaara looked up from his loathsome mountain of paperwork. He dropped the hand that had been rubbing his temple – part of his __futile__ effort to relieve the headache __that__ had developed since _that dream_ – and folded them neatly on the desk. Even after __all the years__ he spent proving himself to be a powerful and worthy__ Kazekage, Gaara wanted nothing less than __to __exhibit weakness in front of his shinobi.__ "Yes?" he said with an air of mild interest as a rather puzzled looking __nin__ entered his office. Gaara recognized him as a __runner from the aviary_ (Akuzo_, he remembered vaguely)__, yet he carried no scrolls or message capsules._

_"Kazekage-sama, I came straight from the aviary. Four messenger hawks from Konoha –_

_Gaara tensed imperceptibly at the mention of their __most powerful ally._

_ – just arrived." The __nin__ paused and shifted his weight from one leg to the other –__ a sign__ of distress.__ When Gaara merely blinked at him, waiting emotionlessly for him to continue, the runner carried on. "None of the birds carried __any __messages…"_

_Gaara could tell from the disconcerted expression on his __shinobi's__ face that __he hadn'__t heard all this __nin__ had to say, but he would need coax the rest of the information out of him.__ "__What is troubling you __Akuzo__-san__?"_

_The man across from him __frowned__. "Well, the birds are extremely__ distressed,__ Kazekage-sama. We had to sedate__ them to get them into cages."__ His frown__ deepened. "And __some of __their feathers were __damaged. They looked singed, like they'd flown through flames. It probably wasn't a forest fire; the birds would have avoided it. But__ I do not believe the hawks were intercepted while delivering message__s and manhandled in the process, either.__ Any __nin__ that caught them __to steal information __would have destroyed them, not just __singe__ their wings a bit.__"_

_Gaara nodded, and something cold tightened in his stomach. He __had a bad idea__ where this was going. "You think something happened in Konoha." It was not a question. _

_The aviary shinobi shifted uncomfortably again. "It's a possibility. __But it was p__robably just a fire in the Konoha aviary." __The __nin__ didn't sound so sure._

_The Kazekage nodded, resisting the urge to send his hand to his forehead. __It _ached._ "__I__f that is all, send for __Kankuro__. Then tend to the __injured __birds."_

_The __nin__ snapped to attention.__ "__Hai__, Kazekage-sama!" he said with a salute and exited the offi__ce. _

_When the door was safely shut behind the retreating sand __nin__, Gaara brought his hands to his temples and rubbed small circles with his index and pointer fingers. __The redhead did not place much faith in omens, but for some reason, he could not shake the growing sense of unease in his chest. __He__ closed his eyes, and the vision of the snarling Kyuubi from his dream rose unbidden in his mind. The demon was wreathed in flame and chakra and blood. It demolished buildings with its __nine __whipping tails as it circled its opponent: a dark, hooded figure with flashing red eyes. But the worst part was the screams - _

_"What's up little bro'?"__Kankuro__ asked with a grin as he stepped unannounced into the room__, effectively snapping Gaara from his dark reverie__. "__Akuzo__-san__ said you wanted to have a word with me."_

_Gaara dropped his ha__nds and looked up at his brother. "I need you to go to Konoha. __Get __Matsuko__-san__ and leave tonight." _

_The tone Gaara used was one that would have left any other shinobi without __so much as the thought__ to argue. Bu__t __Kankuro__ could not bring himself to resist this opportunity to jilt his younger brother. He__ folded his arms and leaned his back against the wall. "Mind telling me the occasion? It isn't every day that the Kazekage has two of his fastest shinobi to race off to Konoha in the dead of night__." A cocky, joking smirk crossed his lips, "Have you finally decided to cave into those old bastards on the council and plead with the __Hokage__ to give __you a Leaf __kunoichi__ for a bride?__"_

_Gaara gave his brother a withering look._

_"I knew that once it made it through that thick skull of yours that __Ino__ has made me happier than I've ever been you'd jump on the bandwagon.__"The smirk deepened._

_The look darkened._

_Kankuro__ rolled his eyes__ "__Hey, you know I'm j__ust messing with you. Although," he added with a wicked grin, "that __Haruno__ Sakura chick _is_ pretty damn fine."_

_"__Kankuro__…" Sand began swirling__ menacingly__ from __the gourd leaning __against the wall behind __Gaara's__ desk._

_"All right, all right, I'm done," the puppet master flashed his brother the palms of his hands as a sign of surrender.__ "So, __are __you going to tell me what's going on then?"_

_The mini sandstorm died down. It was a moment before Gaara spoke. "The aviary __came to me with__ some unsettling news," he said lamely._

_"…Unsettling news?"_

_"__Four __messenger __hawks arrived from Konoha__ today.__ Akuzo__-san__ said they were panicked."_

_Kankuro__ blinked. "You're going to send two __jounin__ to Konoha because some birds got rustled?" he said incredulously._

_Gaara let out an inaudible sigh, knowing he sounded __suspiciously __like__ an idiot. He was almost starting to doubt his decision himself. "It's more than that. I had a__… I __have a__ feeling."_

_Kankuro's__ eyes widened. His brother had a "_feeling_?"_O-kay. Whatever the hell _that _meant. _"All right, Gaara, whatever you say. What do you want us to do when we get there?"_

_"Nothing.__ Just send me a message when you __arrive__. Take it easy for a couple days__ and then head back. It's be__en months since you had a break.__"_

_Kankuro__ smiled at that. "__Che__, no kidding, Slave-driver," he joked, trying to lighten the mood.__"__Ino__ and __Temari__ will be pissed __they__ couldn't come, but that's what __they get for volunteering to go to__ Grass, ne?__'__Diplomatic__ civilities__'__ my ass.__ They'__re probably holed up at that__ hot springs resort.__" He pulled open the door. "I'll head out as soon as I find __Matsuko-baka__. He's probably at the bar…" With a wave, he exited, leaving Gaara in silence once more._

Gaara ceased his pacing for a moment and looked out the row of circular windows behind his desk. The sun was setting, painting Suna with a blood-red glow. With a soft sigh, it occurred to him that wearing a hole in the carpet was doing nothing to calm his nerves. Perhaps some fresh air would help. The Kazekage doubted it, but it wasn't as though he was going to finish any more paperwork that evening anyway. He was far too restless to sit behind his desk. With a swirl of sand, he disappeared from his office and reappeared on the roof of the Kazekage tower. He stared off into the distance, watching the desert glitter like a sea of rubies beneath the dying sun. For some reason, the beauty only unsettled him even more.

Under normal circumstances, he would meditate to collect his thoughts, but every time he had closed his eyes during the past week, instead of being comforted by the darkness the back of his eyelids usually provided, he was haunted by a barrage of images from his dream.

A particularly acute pain blossomed in his skull. Grimacing, he massaged his kanji-branded forehead with the heel of his palm.

He'd suffered from migraines since his childhood, courtesy of Shukaku. But since the removal of his demon, headaches as painful as the one from which he was currently suffering were rare. He knew his bizarre new anxiety was feeding it.

This was stupid. In just a couple days, another Konoha messenger bird would arrive at the aviary with a note from Kankuro explaining that everything in Konoha was fine. The same note would contain an anecdote telling whether or not Yamanaka Inoichi had tried to kill him for stealing his daughter away to Sunagakure. Then his brother would come home with a scroll from that Nara kid for Temari (who had returned around noon from Grass, smelling suspiciously like hot spring minerals) and try to make a fool out of him for "having a bad feeling."

It was while his thoughts lingered on his brother that he sensed Kankuro's chakra signature. He was approaching quickly from the direction of Konoha, about an eighth of a mile outside the village wall. Letting a carpet of sand form beneath his feet and carry him swiftly to meet the approaching shinobi, his brow furrowed crossly. Kankuro had only been gone four days. A round trip took six days minimum. _Why is he__ back already?_

He did not expect what he found when he met his brother in the pass through the wall surrounding Suna. Kankuro and Matsuko ran at breakneck speed right past him, both carrying bloody somethings in their arms.

Gaara felt the freezing clench in his gut once more. He hurried after his returning shinobi. "Kankuro…?"

"We found them on the way, unconscious." He kicked open the door to the hospital and shouted, "WE NEED MEDICS!"

Gaara saw a flash of pink under his brother's arm mixed in with the blood.

The Kazekage found it was difficult to unclench his jaw. "Kankuro, who are they?" They hurried down the hallway, wide-eyed medic-nins ushering them into the closest room.

"Matsuko's got Nara Shikamaru, and I've got-"

"FOREHEAD!!!" Yamanaka Ino shrieked, snatching her friend from Kankuro and placing her on an operating table. "Oh God, SHIKAMARU!" Matsuko was soon relieved of the shadow nin by another kunoichi, and soon he, Kankuro, and Gaara were forced from the room by the swarm of medics.

Gaara looked at his brother. "That was Haruno-san?"

Kankuro nodded. He was sickly pale beneath his war paint. A few feet away, Matsuko stood shakily on his feet.

His posture painfully rigid, Gaara bore into his brother's eyes with his own, silently demanding an explanation.

Kankuro stared back. "We need to talk. Alone."

**(A/N): Love it? Hate it? Let me know. I'm very interested in your feedback. This story is up for two reasons: to entertain YOU and to improve my style. **


	2. Chapter 2: The Floating Council

**(A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed! Your feedback is very encouraging, and it makes me smile. To any would-be anonymous reviews, I'm sorry I had the blocker on. I didn't know it was an automatic setting, but I****'ve since**** fixed it. **

**As far as actual story****part of this announcement ****is concerned, I forgot to mention that Gaara is twenty and Sakura ****is nineteen. As far as the conditions of the other K****onoha shinobi are concerned… You ****shall see**** in time****…)**

**The Floating Council **

Kankuro and Matsuko were immediately enveloped in a swirling wind of sand, and both men felt the nauseating sensation of being hurled weightlessly through the air. A moment later, they found themselves suspended hundreds of feet above Suna by a platform of sand. Dizzied and disoriented by the affects vertigo, they hastily sat down.

Gaara sat cross-legged before them, eyes closed. "We need not fear interruption up here, and the wind will hide our words," he said softly. He opened his jade orbs then, taking in his comrades. The two shinobi were travel-worn and anxious, and blood stained their clothes and hands. None of it was theirs.

His eyes turned to Kankuro. "Deliver your mission report."

* * *

_C'mon Sakura_, Ino thought, teeth gritted as she ran her chakra-infused hands over the long gash that ran the entire width of her friend's lower back. Such an injury should not have been difficult to fix, but this particular wound was strangely resistant to her healing jutsus. For some reason, the flesh stubbornly refused her aid. Ino scowled and pumped more chakra into the gash. Redoubling her focus, she tried another, more advanced jutsu – one of the last ones Sakura had taught her before she transferred to Suna. Slowly, she was able to force the skin and muscle to knit back together. Perspiration glittered in a fine sheen across Ino's face and the back of her neck. _Dammit__…__ Forehead, how do you __always __make this look so easy?_

When Ino's arms began to shake with fatigue thirty-two minutes later, the skin had satisfactorily sealed over the lesion, though the injury had left a scar. The medic heaved a sigh and ran her hand gently over her unconscious friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry about the scar, Sakura. I have no idea what the hell you did to yourself, but at least you and Shika are safe now."

For a moment, she frowned at the new band of white tissue now marring Sakura's once flawless back. None of her jutsus had been at all successful in making it fade. It was clear to her that whatever had made this wound was no ordinary weapon or attack. Only something of _tremendous_ power could make an injury so resistant to her medical jutsu.

Or something cursed.

* * *

Kankuro paused in his report, taking a moment to rub the inner corners of his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. The light of the failing sun dyed his skin a battle-worn crimson. When he looked up at his brother once more, his russet orbs were troubled. They bore promise of only dark tidings. 

"After nightfall on the second day, we found them."

_"__Hey__ cut the dawdling__"__ Kankuro__ shouted over his shoulder at__ Matsuko. The two shinobi leap__t from tree to tree. Their movements__ were __rapid__ yet masterfully precise. "__We're not stopping for another hour, got it?__ And they told __me you were supposed to be fast. I've trained _genin_ that could out run you,__" he said while shaking his head, trying to goad another ounce of speed from his comrade. _

_Matsuko scowled at his captain's back. __"Why __the hell __are you being so gung-ho about this?__ It's not __like we__ have anything _important_ to do in Konoha. Are you really that excited to get your ass chewed out by Yamanaka-san?" He pumped more chakra into his step._

_"Eve__r heard of a little thing called__ 'professionalism?'"__ Kankuro answered back. __He knew it was weak._

_In all fairness, the puppet master could not hold __Matsuko's__ slowing pace against his fellow sand __nin__; Kankuro had driven them hard__ for the past two days. He might have thought that Gaara was overreacting to the messenger hawk incident, but out of respect for his __younger __brother, he would do everything __he could __to put him at ea__se. That included__ getting to Konoha as soon as possib__l__e__ to prove __to Gaara he was being paranoid._

_Kankuro __shifted his summoning scrolls __mid-leap,__ and his trademark grin returned to his face. "__And j__ust think: once we get there, we can have a nice, steaming bowl of __ramen – no more of this powdery ration shit –"_

_Kankuro immediately silenced and__ came to a__n abrupt__ stop, crouching__ on a tree limb.__ The grin had vanished, replaced by a serious frown.__ He held up his fis__t, signaling for Matsuko to __cease running__. The __nin__ came to rest next to Kankuro, __suddenly __alert. "What is it?" he asked of his captain._

_"Two Konoha shinobi up ahead, about fifty yards. I almost missed them; their chakra signatures are so weak. They must be wounded."__ His __eyes scanned the area._

_Kankuro__ dropped__ to the forest floor, brow furrowed. __As he__ cautiously__ approached the thicket he determined in which __the __nin__ had__ fallen,__ he felt the muscles throughout his body contract and tense; h__e was able to identify one of the __signature__s. __Kankuro__ doubted he would ever b__e able to forget the chakra of the__ woman who had pumped it into his organs to save his life._

_The two men passed into the thicket._

_"Oh shit," was all Matsuko said. He took the words straight __from __Kankuro's__ mind. __There in the gloom lay two bodies, battered and unconscious. __Blood soaked their skin and clothes. Even through the__ darkness, Kankuro knew their faces: Nara Shikamaru and __Haruno__ Sakura._

_Sakura sat with her back against a gnarled tree. Her head drooped to one side, and her blood-stained bangs hung in her face, shielding her closed eyes from vi__ew. Shikamaru lay across her lap with her hands placed over a nearly-healed wound on __his abdomen__. It looked like Sakura__ had been healing him__ when she fell unconscious._

_The moonbeams filtered through the branches and leaves to paint the Konoha shinobi in a dappled silver glow. If it weren't for the blood, they might have appeared to be sleeping peacefully.__ For one moment of disconnected __thought, Kankuro thought __they looked beautiful._

_"What the hell happened?" Matsuko asked as he __squatted__ next to the unconscious __nin__, snapping Kankuro back to rationality._

_"No fucking idea." The puppet master crouched besi__de him and checked Sakura's pulse. It was steady__ but dangerously faint.__ His own pulse quickened.__ He then brought two fingers to __Shikamaru's__ neck, searching for the __primary __artery. __Beneath his touch, t__he shadow __nin__ shifted, grimacing._

_His eyes had flickered open, gazing up at the Suna jounin with an unfocused, glassy stare. __"Kankuro," he said softly, his voice breaking, "your fingers are cold__…__So __troubleso__-__" He groaned then, in pain._

_"__Whatever, Lazy-ass," Kankuro said, __trying__ to bury his relief at __Shikamaru's__ regained consciousness beneath__ a half-smirk.__ "Are you badly hurt? We've got to__ get__ you back to Konoha.__ Temari__ will have my ass if I let you die out here.__"_

_He began to gather __the __barely-conscious man in his arms when Shik__amaru let a __stangled__, urgent sound escape his lips__. His grimace deepened. "No… you can't," he faintly murmured, shaking his head weakly._

_Kankuro froze in his movements, not wanting to make __Shikamaru's__ injuries__ worse__ by shifting him.__ It disturbed him__ to see the shadow __nin__ in such a fundamentally weakened state. Had that been a _sob?_"You mean, you can't be moved? Have your organs been damaged?" _

_"No… __Ssakura__… must have healed the worst before," he let out a shaky breath, "__before __she passed out." The war paint on __Kankuro's__ fa__ce swam and twisted__. He closed his __stinging __eyes. They burned._

Just like the corpses.

_Shikamaru __goaned__ again, rolling his head to one side. __He couldn't believe it. __He just couldn'__t believe it. It was just__ too horrible to be true… _Not Chouji…

_"She's hurt… She needs help," he murmured after another moment. __It was so hard to think. __"Something… her back. __Lots of blood."_

_Kankuro__ nodded. The small pool of __liquid__ in which the unconscious medic sat__ confirmed this. __He nodded to Matsuko, silently instructing him to pick up the dark-haired __nin__. When the older man began to comply, Kankuro said, "That's why we need to get you back to Konoha.__"_

_Shikamaru shook his head, eyes clenched shut, tight. He could feel his con__sciousness slipping a__way again, like__ strands of __silk __being__ pulled from between his__ numb__ fingers.__"No," his voice was choked, __and the back of his throat ached.__ He had to tell them. __The Kazekage had to know.__ "Konoha has been destroyed."_

"That was all he told us before he passed out again," Kankuro said. He looked up at his brother, whose eyes were trained on the star-eatten sky. "We came immediately back to Suna. If what Shikamaru said about Konoha is true, Sakura-san would never have made it here if we had tried to take her back to her village first."

Gaara nodded but remained silent. As Kankuro relayed to him the details of his would-have-been holiday and Shikamaru's grim proclamation, he had remained perfectly calm, unshakably collected. He would not reveal his ever-growing sense of foreboding. After all, the Leaf nin had been wounded and only half-conscious when he talked with Kankuro. Perhaps Shikamaru's report on Konoha was nothing more than the product of a powerful genjutsu or blood loss-induced delirium.

Yet the Kazekage's headache worsened.

Finally, he said, "You must tell no one of this, not until Konohagakure's true status has been confirmed and the council has been informed. Understood?" He was addressing both shinobi before him. Both nodded, pale and solemn.

Satisfied, Gaara willed the sand platform to lower easily to the ground, much to Matsuko's delight. The jounin might have smiled if he weren't so exhausted. The three stepped off the sand and onto the dark street. "Shinobi," said the Kazekage, "you are dismissed." His voice was tired.

After a slight bow and a brief, "thank you, Kazekage-sama," Matsuko set off for his apartment. He wanted three things: a shower, sleep, and sake.

With a swish of his dark cloak, Gaara turned and headed for the hospital. If either of the Leaf shinobi were conscious, he would get as much information as possible of Konoha's alleged fate.

Then a thought born of another layer of his mind – a newer, somewhat unfamilliar one that he would at times struggle to understand – seemed to make his already unsettled stomach twist uncomfortably. Haruno Sakura was Naruto's precious person. What if her injuries were too advanced or grievous for Suna's fledgling medic program to handle? What if Tsunade could have saved her? By heeding the words of a potentially mentally-deficient shinobi and taking her to Sand's inferior medic nin, had they needlessly doomed her to die?

Gaara's face betrayed nothing, but painfully fought the urge to swallow. Would Naruto hate him if she died?

The crunch of gravel registered in the Kazekage's mind, alerting him to his brother's otherwise silent presence at his side. It shook him from his clenching reverie. Gaara watched his third-in-command from the corner of his eye. He looked uncharacteristically somber. "Kankuro…?"

A ghost of a smirk lit his lips, though it looked a little forced. "We can handle this, Gaara. We'll figure this out." No wisecracks. But there was resolve. There was support. His brother believed in him. For reasons Gaara had been gradually coming to understand since his battle with Uzumaki Naruto, this reassured him.

Gaara nodded, stoic. With his brother's steady presence beside him, he arrived at the door to the hospital and entered without hesitation.

**(A/N: Yeah, I know that it's kind of slow at this point, but right now, I think everyone's ****operating in a certain level of shock. They're having enough fun trying not to get caught in a fugue. A warning to the faint of heart: somewhere within the next couple chapters, things are going to get a little graphic. And I'm sorry if any of you hate the long flashbacks, but that's what happens when you start a story in ****medias**** res. Let me know your thoughts!)**


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